Rolf Benirschke Indomitable Spirit

Rolf Benirschke began his NFL career when he was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the 12th round of the 1977 NFL Draft. After being traded to the San Diego Chargers in his rookie year he had a fulfilling ten year career with the Chargers. Benirschke was the San Diego Chargers placekicker from 1978 until 1986, and the third most accurate placekicker in NFL history at the time of his retirement. In his second season with the Chargers Benirschke was stricken with a life-threatening disease ulcerative colitis. He underwent two surgeries to remove his large intestine and was in the intensive care unit for six weeks. When released from the hospital, he weighed on 123 pounds and had to adjust to life with two ostomy appliances. In 1980 Benirschke returned to kicking for the Chargers and played seven more seasons before retiring in 1987 as the team’s all-time leader in points scored.

Benirschke received numerous honors during his career including NFL Man of the Year; Comeback Player of the Year; Philadelphia Sports Writers Association, Most Courageous Athlete. In 1997 he was inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame. Benirschke has taken his bouts with illness and devoted his time and energy to inspiring others. He founded Great Combacks, a patient advocacy and support program sponsored by ConvaTec, and is the co-founder of Legacy Health Strategies, an strategic marketing firm that develops patient support, disease awareness, and treatment compliance initiatives for medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

Our interview begins as we were talking about a mutual friend that we have who played on the Women’s Professional tour.

SZ: In this day and age it’s special to have friendship through such a long period of time. I think it’s also the benefit of participating in sports. I am sure there are people that you still know from your football playing days.

SZ: You realize that you are in a unique fraternity and once you mature those relationships become that more important. No-one can quite appreciate what you go through except those that have gone through it. It’s pretty unique in that way.

SZ: The shared experience that you both understand. When you think back to the juniors in tennis and everyone is competing for little opportunities and over time everything just sort of works out. It’s a good thing.

RB: How did you end up deciding to be a sport counselor?

SZ: My ambition had been to turn professional at some point but I wasn’t ready and really needed guidance to understand my skills, where I had been as a junior, where my current skill level was at, what skills I needed to develop to move to the next level. The desire to go back and become involved in sport counseling was that I knew a lot of players in many sports were in similar situations. I currently work with youth, adults, professionals around anxiety issues, performance issues, transitions, peak performance, and am Board Certified in Biofeedback. I conduct physiological stress tests which are very helpful for athletes to see how their thoughts influence their bodies ability to perform.

RB: I love that it is such a real thing for every player but no-one actually wants to admit it because it’s almost a sign of weakness or perceived sign of weakness. I think it takes a strong person to recognize that. I would say it’s becoming more accepted though I still think for younger people it takes awhile.

SZ: Some of it is mental maturity. Frequently the mind set of a young player is, “I should beat this person.” “I should do this or do that.” My job is to scale it back and focus the player when they make an error how do they get themselves back on track without a mental melt down? Frequently the answer at the beginning is, “I just hit the ball harder.” Or, “I tell myself to work harder.” Those solutions often add to their difficulties. Physiologically they may need to reset their body and readjust their mental thoughts. Many more sport teams employ performance consultants. It’s much more common than it was ten years ago. The Seattle Seahawks employ Dr. Michael Gervais. He’s been running their program for several years.

RB: David Cook is the Director of the Peak Performance Center at Baylor University and wrote a book called, Links of Utopia. There was a movie made about him. David is a really compelling wonderful guy. When you are around him it’s just so cool. He’s just a bright, thoughtful, approachable guy. You recognize how fragile the psyche of so many players are. We wrestle with so many of the things you are talking about. I used to read Tim Gallwey’s book “The Inner Game of Tennis.” That was my fledgling attempt to manage a lot of that stuff.

A lot comes with mental maturity. Many athletes are identified so early these days it can create such damage. Some athletes think their skills are going to give them happiness and reward yet for some it stunts their growth socially and intellectually, then there is the possibility of an injury or they don’t make it. It’s devastating to watch.

SZ: Earlier we were talking about pressure on kids to succeed and their role models. Looking at the last Super Bowl and the deflated ball story who makes that decision? What does that say about the game? Does it mean players have to cheat to be good enough to win? Can they play within the rules of the game and be successful?

RB: To me that is systemic in a sport where we are all looking for an edge. The line becomes blurred whether it’s nutrition or strength training or enhancement supplements. Everybody is pushing it. I don’t think that’s healthy either. I believe athletes need two to three months down time away from their sport. Just to let their bodies recalibrate. I don’t thing it’s good to work out twelve months a year and expect your body and emotional capacity to remain strong and be able to get dialed up when you need to. But it’s done because we all want an edge and this leads to a dilemma as parents. Parents may feel pressure to encourage the child to select the sport they are going to play by the age of twelve. In the minds of many parents their child will not be able to to make the high school team if they don’t fully commit for example to soccer for ten or eleven months a year to the detriment of other opportunities. We’ve created this unhealthy system that potentially leads to a lot of the problems we are talking about.

SZ: How would you change the process?

RB: That’s a very big question with lots of answers. I think it begins with making people aware of what happens when you do this and things don’t turn out well. We are talking about the fraction of a percent that actually makes it to the college level or professional level. It’s the story of Todd Marinovich the football player at USC told a hundred times for parents to get the message of, “Wait a minute, sports is for enjoyment to learn how to challenge yourself to build skills of how to get along, how to deal with defeat, how to deal with success and how to push yourself beyond what you think you can do.” All the healthy things about sports becomes unhealthy when we make it our God idol, and when it supersedes family vacations and all that. Parents couple by couple have to rein that back in and say look sports are going to be a healthy balance for my child.

My youngest son is in his late teens and we’ve had to make some hard decisions as he’s shown athletic ability. He’s been on teams that play hard but it’s not life or death to them and if they lose it’s tough but they go have a milkshake and off to the beach. I just know it’s in the long term the right balance. I’ve sadly watched kids drafted into baseball and have an injury and never get past double AA. Five years later they are looking around and their buddies are deep into careers.

SZ: Because they continue to pursue the dream and they didn’t make it.

RB: I think there’s a correlation between the longer you play the harder it is to make the transition. I don’t care how bright you are or how well prepared you are. It’s harder. If a player leaves the game at thirty-three or thirty-four years old they are so far behind their peers in the normal development of a career. That can be extremely challenging for the most adjusted player to make the transition. Now there’s no doubt that they may have a leg up if they’ve played that long and have a reputation or experiences that are unique.

When I was playing my agent was Leigh Steinberg and he said to me, “Rolf you need to get involved in the community.” I asked “What does that mean?” He strongly suggested that I learn to public speak. I’d never done it before. I’d never taken classes in that so I bought a Dale Carnegie book on public speaking and read it. When I went to the San Diego Chargers my rookie year in the off season I said every time there’s a request from somebody and would like a player to come out and speak put me on the list. In that rookie off season I must have spoken ninety times.

SZ: What a great opportunity.

RB: It was a brilliant opportunity but if Leigh hadn’t said it I wouldn’t have thought about it. I spoke at Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, junior high schools and the special Olympics. I was exposed to the fabric of the community and began to meet the presidents and CEO”s of companies. But through that the community got to know me as more than an athlete and what really changed for me was I became ill. I got sick and at a time when our team was loved by a community one of their players got sick and there was this great out pouring of support and affection. I was very lucky to have lived and should never really have lived. I am rewriting my book Alive & Kicking right now.

SZ: You became terribly sick with ulcerative colitis and had two surgeries which left you wearing two osmotic sacks, yet returned to the Chargers as a kicker the next year and played for four more years.

RB: I figured out a way to protect my stoma and I did get hit a few times and there was some concern certainly initially about my playing again. The point is my illness was played out in the public and there is this safety net in the community if you recognize the opportunity that the platform of sport gives you. During my career I got to play for ten years in my community where I had gone to high school. In a place where I was going to settle for the rest of my life at least I thought. Then with my illness which was a horrible thing yet turned out to be a blessing in my life. It forced me to grow up on a lot of fronts.

When I was in college at U.C. Davis and played for the football team and the soccer team I really thought I was going to go on to vet school and was also intrigued by a graduate program at Cornell University. Then I was drafted by the NFL I was the last player drafted in the NFL draft in 1977 but I was drafted by the Oakland Raiders. They had just won the Super Bowl so I ended up deciding to go and see what it was like to play professional football. Once I arrived in Oakland I realized that my skills were as good as others guys and back then there were six preseason games and I got a chance to kick. I had some success in those games and pretty soon I’m the guy.

SZ: If you’re playing football that the position to be in.

RB: I agree with you (laughing), and it fits my personality. I love being part of the team and I love to be able to make a difference in the outcome. You have a big impact on the outcome of the game and autonomy. You can kind of do your own thing as long as you perform.

SZ: You had an amazing professional kicking record. Are you still in the top three of all kickers for the Chargers?

RB: When I retired I was the third most accurate kicker in the history of the league. That’s obviously since past. I did things in the off season that weren’t football related. As I mentioned I learned to public speak, traveled and did other things. I was never a hundred percent devoted to kicking. I believe if I had been I’d have been a better kicker but I don’t think I’d have been a better person. When I played we didn’t make a lot of money so all of us were always trying to figure out what’s the transition? When’s the transition? What are we going to transition into? I felt I needed to keep my options open so on the one hand it was healthy, on the other hand it probably kept some of us from reaching our true potential. What I wanted to get to though was the stuff that you kind of talked about earlier. I ended up in San Diego and I began to experience the scrutiny that these athletes go through everyday. I like most athletes began to start to put my self worth on my performance and when I performed well I felt good. If I struggled I didn’t feel so good about myself. I ended up on this roller coaster, feel good about myself when it’s going well and feel like dog meat when I’m struggling.

But there were a couple of guys on our team who didn’t seem to be on that same roller coaster. I didn’t know why but I wanted what they had. There was a peace and self confidence about them that at the end of the game in the locker room I couldn’t tell if my locker mate who I have huge respect for, had caught ten passes or if he dropped five balls. I just watched and there were four or five guys on the team that were just like that and they were encouragers. They had something I didn’t have and I wanted it. I began to ask them and what they had was a faith. I learned that they had wrestled with their faith. Is there a God or not? If there is a God what are my obligations? If there is no God what’s this all about? They invited me to some of the chapel services that the team had. Back then the speakers that would come were just incredible. Some of the giants of faith, David Jeremiah, Mike MacIntosh and others.

SZ: Through the church.

RB: Yes, through the church. They’d have a chapel service either the night before the game or sometimes right after a team meeting. I started to attend this chapel and it touched my heart. I made a decision that I was going to learn more and read the bible and start to figure it out. Then I started to get ill and it was confusing. How could this be happening? It was unfair. I was twenty-three years old. My life was ahead of me and our team was getting good. In a short time my illness required two surgeries. I lost sixty-four pounds. When I woke up from my second surgery with two ileostomy bags on my side.

I’d sort of made peace with God and believed that I was going to die. I confessed my sins and was ready to go and God allowed me to live. I was so sick that I really shouldn’t have lived. Now I’m twenty-four years old and everything I loved to do involved outdoor athletics. I loved San Diego. I was in the water a lot scuba diving. I ski, play a lot of tennis and was making my living as a professional football player. Now I am thinking, “No girls are ever going to like me.” I went through a really hard time. I was discouraged and interestingly that as I recovered my life changed.

SZ: It’s a letting go.

RB: It’s a couple of things. Yes, it’s a recognition. After the surgeries I had no idea what the rest of my life was going to be like. That was the beginning and then it was, “Alright I’m alive now what?” There was a book written by a guy named Jerry Coffee who was one of the longest held P.O.W.’s in Vietnam. He spent over seven years in one of the P.O.W camps and he wrote about how he survived. He shared some of the principles that made a lot of sense to me and I began to apply them to my life. The prisoners had to figure out how to get through the day, they couldn’t think about tomorrow or a week from now which seemed like an eternity. It was literally, “How do you get through the day? The moment.” I felt that’s me. First I’ve got to figure out how to get through the day. Second thing is the prisoners made small goals, silly little goals. I used that and everyday one of my goals became getting up and walking to the mailbox of my parents house and back. The next day was two mailboxes. Everyday I was going to add a mailbox. You live in California, you know how close those mailboxes are. It’s not a huge accomplishment. But it was for me.

The next thing I learned from the book is that the P.O.W.’s learned to lean on each other. These are studly guys and when they felt that they were beaten and worn out and couldn’t do any more the other guys spread the word that someone was ready to give up and word got around, “You’ve got to help Bill in cell twenty.” They learned to tap the wall in code, coughed in code and they left notes where their buddies would find them. The notes had words of encouragement, “God bless you,” “Don’t give up,” “You can’t give up we are with you.” They talked about how important that was for each of them to know that people around them were with them.

I had to learn to do that and share with my friends who came by and team-mates the burden, my embarrassment, my uncertainty, my fears. That was huge. I also discovered as had the P.O.W.’s that instilled inside everyone of us is what we call the indomitable spirit. We read about the human spirit all the time. We see it live out particularly in sports. Most of us live our lives sort of between the guard rails of life. We may have problems and bounce off the walls because we missed a kick or failed a class, but until we crash over the proverbial guard rail of life and end up in a ditch and survive you come out fundamentally changed.

The guys that survived the P.O.W. experience returned to the U.S. and became presidents of companies, and political leaders. They discovered they had a greater ability to cope, greater perseverance, greater creativity, and courage than they ever thought they had. The irony of this is that the only way they could discover that was to have gone through this incredible trial. I began to discover that for myself. Because I was still under contract with the Chargers the strength coach took me under his wing. Day after day he helped me rebuild my body and confidence. I took it a day at a time and learned to lean on him and made small goals that I was achieving. All of a sudden July came around and I am at one hundred and eighty-five pounds. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. I wonder if I can kick with the bags on. The trainer and I go out one day and I discover I can not only kick but I’m booming it. But I am thinking there is no way the Chargers are going to let me play. There’s a hundred guys in line who want my job including the kicker who took it when I got sick.

I went to the owner of the team and said, “Look there’s been a lot of public support for me. I appreciate that but you need a kicker that you can depend on. The Chargers are a good team you will make it to the play offs. All I am asking is to let me compete for my job. No special favors. Just allow me to compete.” And to my surprise he said if I could prove to the medical staff that I could protect myself they would let me try out. The owner gave me an opportunity and that’s where my life changed. So the last thing those guys in the P.O.W. camps wrestled with was is there a God? Because if there is no God then what was happening to them was just a bad nightmare with no redeeming value. But if there was a God then he was asking me to do certain things which was to believe and trust that one day it might be revealed.

If you had given me a million options I would never have put the opportunity to play football, to play in a Pro Bowl, to play seven more years after my surgeries on the list. I was just such an incredible outcome. So that was my faith journey. I’ve watched God take what were horrible circumstances and turn them into the great lessons of my life including the company that I have now. The company that I co-founded, Legacy Health Strategies is based on all the things that I learned as a player, through my illness and a company I started over thirty years ago called Great Comebacks which educates others about ileostomy. Legacy Health Strategies is built around the premise that patients need support during their illness trial and helping create that support. My business partner and I started the business in my spare bedroom. We now have thirty-six employees. We build programs that profoundly change the lives of patients everyday.

So getting back to our earlier discussion about these young athletes. Some of them will make fifty million dollars and will never need to work again. I don’t know if that is healthy or not. If you are twenty-seven years old and you’ve got fifty million dollars in the bank you think you are pretty hot stuff. In that place it’s hard to realize that there is more to life than that.

SZ: Maturity is an important part of the process. What you are describing is a story or life path that has been experienced in many ways. Viktor Frankl told it in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. The essence of being human and in the dark moments making choices to survive for a greater purpose. The belief that nothing worse can happy than what is happening right now can happen to me. If it’s death then I will go forward by doing something productive for myself and others.

RB: I don’t think you just sit there and expect God to do something. I think you’ve got to move you’ve got to make decisions. God has an opportunity to direct your path. I think you’re right there’s a volitional component to this, a faith component, a trust and maybe it’s a view of the world.

SZ: You’ve incorporated compassion and patience through your experiences. When you say to yourself, “If I sit here and just watch and observe for a second and allow myself to have empathy and compassion then I may understand what’s going on a little better.”

RB: We run from accountability. Somewhere along the line you have to make the decision to accept what’s happened and then figure out where to go from there. Initially it’s “Why, why me?” A very natural reaction. I was there for awhile, but it’s the wrong question. Why, is a circular loop that comes back to poor me why did this happen? It’s not fair. Once you mourn through the why question the question becomes, what now? If there is an acceptance it’s happened I can’t change it and these bags are not going away. If I didn’t have these bags I would be dead. I began to recognize that I had an opportunity to do something.

SZ: It’s motivational for you everyday.

RB: It’s inspiring and humbling really. 

SZ: Rolf thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day for this interview.
It’s been a pleasure hearing your story.

*Featured guests are not current nor former guests of Susan Zaro
*This article can also be read @examiner

Follow up to cheating

In response to the the last post: “The missteps of cheating in junior tennis.” Here were a few responses.

Tom Leonard : Independent ATP Tennis Professional

“Even some of the higher ranked players- and it’s always the same ones and everyone knows who they are – there r complains made against them – but nothing is ever done!!”

“And unfortunately it doesn’t end in the juniors!! It’s still in the Opens and the Seniors.

My response to Tom:

Tom hi,

There will always be some players that skate. I believe that if a reward system that promotes the culture and value system of the sport is presented and reinforced at a young age it will product a different consciousness which players will take forward. I would love to see the utilization of players like, Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Roddick,  Davenport, Tracy Austin etc. doing a commercial. The setting would be a junior tournament and one of the players pulls some cheating/gamesmanship behavior and up pops one of the “stars” who yells out “That’s NOT cool.” Simple and to the point. It can be followed up by correct behavior and the “star” then giving a high 5 or thumbs up. The idea can be carried out in so many creative was and through social media. The options are endless. It’s not the answer to all the problems but it gives it visibility. You can do the same with a parent talking to a kid, or harassing an opponent. Up pops the “star” ….”That’s NOT cool.” Make it fun, funny entertaining and shift the energy. There is certainly enough material to work with.

Candace Miyatani:

“Thank you Susan for composing this. It is important, timely and we really need to implement some of these notions…but how? It seems we have all these committees and workshops that bring passionate tennis folks together to brainstorm etc. and then what? Nothing implemented? Why bother? I do teach my junior (12yr old) when she complains a player cheated: It is not always easy to call the shots perfectly especially when you kids all want to win so much..just give them the benefit of the doubt and focus on your OWN close calls…on or near the line or unsure..call it IN. If you have to cheat to win a point or the match–have you really won? I like that point: If you cheat a lot, you will really have the confidence to win when playing on a bigger stage with higher stakes? I believe I was the parent you mentioned in your article…I suggested that players and referees vote on for the sportsmanship award and the player can get the next tourney fee waived and/or a USTA stipend that would add incentive for the parents. How may we implement? Can USTA PD launch the “Public relations Leader” position for each section? I’ll sign up.

My response to Candace:

Candace hi, Thanks for your feedback. I believe your child will benefit more from participating in tennis the way you are suggesting she engage, give opponent benefit of the doubt, etc. Parents such as yourself have valuable thoughts as to how to remedy this situation and give the kids a better sport experience.

What are your ideas?

The missteps of cheating in junior tennis

Why do junior tennis players cheat in tennis? This topic came up recently when I attended a USTA Nor. Cal. Coaches Summit. The presenters for the summit included USTA Director of Coaching, Jose Higueres. Other presenters were Kent Kinnear, Director of Player I.D. & Development, Paul Lubbers, Director of Coaching Education and Geoff Russell, Manager of Player I.D. and Development. What lead to our discussion of cheating was a panel discussion about the drop out rate in competitive junior tennis being consistent with the trends of many other sports. Sport participation tends to drop off around age thirteen which is developmentally a critical time for social skills and self-esteem.

Many studies of why children drop out of sports cite the following reasons:

1) The sport is no longer fun.
2) The child moved on to other athletic interests.
3) Coach played favorites or was a poor teacher.
4) As the child moves up in age group specialization and year round training required too much commitment to remain competitive.

Rarely was combating cheating and gamesmanship listed as to why a child drops out of sport. Yet, as a USPTA Elite tennis coach and Sport Counseling Consultant, when I talk with juniors about their competitive play, the issues around cheating are typically a large part of their overall match feedback. When I brought up the issue of cheating in junior tennis as a reason juniors leave the sport, the USTA panel acknowledged that, as they travel around the nation talking with coaches, this topic was a major issue.

I believe that when a more player friendly environment is created by lowering the variety of ways cheating in junior tennis occurs, it can significantly increase the retention rate of this “sport of a lifetime.” There are endless creative ways that juniors use to shift matches by. Some of these include:

1) Deliberating calling balls out that are in during pivotal points during a match.
2) Faked injury time-outs which break-up the momentum of the player who is winning.
3) Bathroom breaks in the middle of a set if the player is losing. Why are bathrooms breaks allowed in the middle of a set instead of when the set is over?
4) Entourages bullying an opponent. Talking to either player by anyone outside the court besides a referee is prohibited.
5) Deliberately hitting a ball over the fence to break match momentum.
6) Changing the flip score cards to the wrong set score during change overs.
7) Not announcing the game score after points, then when questioned about the score saying the wrong score favoring themselves.
8) Parent or coach illegally signaling from the side-lines.

Where are the referees one might ask? Tennis tournaments do have referees but, unlike other sports where only one game is happening at a time, a tennis tournament may have only two roving referees available to monitor four or more courts at a time. When a referee is called to a court to work out a dispute the referee typically only stays long enough to hear the complaint, get the match restarted and stand there for a few points before being called away to monitor another match. Players often report that when the referee walks away the cheating and gamesmanship tactics resume. I believe junior players have enough on their plate playing the game without adding the distraction of cheating.

Parents of players who don’t cheat have become more vocal sharing their disappointment in how the USTA hasn’t stepped up enough to protect young players so they can focus on playing. The parents are upset that their child works hard practicing and playing and when they get to the tournament spend too much time engaged in arguing about line call disputes and needing to call referees over to monitor their matches.

An article titled “Is Cheating Ruining the Game,” by USPTA Tennis Pro Blair Henley addressed this issue. Many parents wrote in to express their thoughts after reading the article. Here are just some of the comments by parents:

“The USTA needs to be like golf and have a zero tolerance for cheating and keep suspending kids and stop listening to parents who say, let the kids figure it out. Some kids are bullies and usually their parents are too.”

Another parent who plays competitive tennis wrote, “Coming from a soccer, baseball, basketball, background, to not have refs at tournaments seems crazy! I won’t be introducing my daughter to tournaments for a long time simply because I believe cheating will take all of the fun out of tennis. I have played a couple of cheaters before and even if I win the cheating drained most of the fun out of the match. So I will try and prepare her for the cheating aspect of the game but I don’t want her dealing with it on a regular basis.”

“I invited some friends to a Level 1 tournament to watch my daughter play in the 12’s two years ago. First junior tournament for them and they were shocked. The amount of cheating and the inability for the cheated player to stop it had them asking me, ”What the heck are you doing this for? Soccer, softball, volleyball, basketball are so much more enjoyable. ”

With the expense of participation in tennis, which includes lessons, tournament fees, equipment, and travel expenses, it not unlikely that with all the other sport choices parents will steer their kids into easier to navigate sport environments. Even though youth sport referees are not always accurate at least they are present and serve to manage the games environments.

For a moment let’s think about the pressure unsupervised players experience when competing in tennis. In a research article titled “You Can’t Be Serious, That Ball Was IN: An Investigation of Junior Tennis Cheating Behavior” Jonathan Cooper, who had been a competitive junior player and a teaching professional, hypothesized that cheating in junior tennis is a result of three influences, the coach, the parent and the personal desire of the junior to win.

Under coach pressure, findings from Cooper’s research indicated that coaches who focused on performance, for example, winning is the most important thing vs. mastery, the focus being on improving skills predicated cheating behavior. The research indicates that ongoing exposure to coaching that emphasizes winning motivates a player to cheat.

The second pressure in Cooper’s research paper was identified as the parent. Robert Giltinan, a junior coach for the Australian National Tennis Association, was quoted in Cooper’s research paper as saying, “The link comes mainly from the parents. Generally ten-year old kids don’t go out there to cheat, they go out there to play the sport and have fun. They are not out there to try to cheat. It’s just that they get pressures from home.”

The third pressure on the player identified in Cooper’s study was personal expectations for high performance and the stress associated with competing. If the player perceives that the match outcome is vital for the future of their career it can lead to cheating as a way to not have the let down and trauma of losing.

People who play and understand the game of tennis know what a great game it is. Most parents are well aware that the probability of their child becoming a touring professional is very slim. What most parents do want for their children is the opportunity for their child to enjoy the benefits of learning the game, developing their skills to the best of their abilities and participating in a competitive environment that allows for accurate feedback of those skills. In the current culture of the sport at the junior level things need to change. Referring back to the comments from parents in the Blair Henley article it is easy to see that there are many good ideas for helping to make this change. Suggestions for reform include:

“The USTA makes 200+ million in revenue during the U.S. Open alone, it seems reasonable that they might cover the cost of additional officials at junior tournaments.”
I would add to this, at all junior tournaments, not just the higher tier tournaments need more officiating.”

“The USTA implements mandatory parental meetings to inform parents of parental codes of conduct then empowers tournament directors and officials to enforce the rules of that conduct during tournaments.”

A parent also suggested that a Public Relations team should be hired to implement a sportsmanship award that is voted on by players and referees. The winner would be able to waive the next tournament fee, or be given a USTA stipend to provide an incentive to parents as well.

It would also be useful to educate referees at the junior level more adequately. A common complaint by players and parents is that when a player calls a referee to a match the referee doesn’t always seem to know how to handle situations. There are many incidents of referees being influenced by input from the cheating player or a parent. The ref would be more credible if there was a stronger mandatory system in place for their education. Something similar to a USPTA or USPTR rating for the refs skill level would be useful. It would be an easy task for referees to keep up to date by taking on-line course work provided by the USTA.

Last, this is a wonderful opportunity for the WTA, ATP, USPTA, USTA, USPTR to utilize their resources to reset the culture of the sport. During televised tournaments have well known tour players, collegiate players and coaches appear in public service announcements talking about behavior and values that our sport wishes to promote. Create public service announcements that address guidelines for junior players and parents. Shape cheating into an uncool thing to do. It could be quite a creative campaign with well-known players and coaches talking about the benefits of not cheating. For example, players who don’t cheat have more confidence in their skills and ability to perform at higher levels when people are watching.

Cheaters are not the majority in the game of tennis, but they are disruptors and create enough discomfort for others that it can influence whether a player chooses to continue in the sport. A ten year old has enough to think about and react to without dealing with the shenanigans that to some have become recognized as the “norm” of competition. Let’s make an effort to change the culture of junior tennis so that it reflects the values of competition and fairness that are important for the sport and for the development of young players.

*This article can also be read @ examiner

Moving American tennis forward

Patrick McEnroe is stepping down from his position at the USTA this year. Higueras will continue as USTA Director of Coaching

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

 

Jose Higueras was hired by Patrick McEnroe in 2008 to oversee all of Player Development’s coaching for the USTA. Higueras brought to the job a wealth of experience as a player and coach. He has worked with a number of the world’s top players. The list includes Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Roger Federer, Jennifer Capriati and Mary Joe Fernandez. He was also Michael Chang’s coach when he won the French Open in 1989. As a player Higueras won sixteen ATP singles titles and was ranked as high as sixth in the world. He was also played for the Spanish Davis Cup for eight years.

SZ: I read that at age nine you worked as a ball boy at Reial Club de Tenis in Barcelona, Spain. How did you move from being a ball boy to learning to play tennis? Who discovered your talent and gave you the opportunity to train, grow and develop as a player?

JH: I started working at the Reial Club when I was nine. In those days ball boy kids were very poor kids that grew up without going to school. If you go to Mexico you still see that in some parts of South America. In the old days some of the best players or most of the best players in Spain like Manuel Santana, or Manuel Orantes were ex-ball boys like myself. As a ball boy you would work for two or three hours and always had spare time. So the ball boys would make a racket out of anything or a member would give them an old tennis racket.

Inter-club matches were always very big in Spain. There were the under 14’s, 16’s and 18 and under matches. At one point, sometimes the ball boys were better players than the clubs inter-club team. The club got smart and started asking some of the ball kids to participate in the inter-club matches to help the club win. From there on that’s how I got started. I started a little bit later than some of the other guys because I had to work until I was fifteen. I had the opportunity to play in an important inter-club match and ended up winning. From then on the club tried to help me more. Then there was a gentleman that was a tennis teacher at the club who was the most influential person in my tennis life. He was a great teacher and loved kids and loved to help people. He was the one that actually kept helping me all along. Then the Spanish Federation started to help me more and more.

SZ: That’s an amazing sequence of events. It takes that one person.

JH: I was also blessed with having a great family. My parents didn’t know what tennis was. They didn’t know how to keep score or anything about tennis. That was also a blessing because there was never any tennis talk at home. I knew they loved me and once again I was blessed with a great family. Everyone needs support along the way.

SZ: Growing up did you just play tennis or were you involved in other sports?

JH: When we had spare time we played everything. We played soccer, we played marbles, although it’s not a sport but in those days it was popular with kids. We started the day at the club at 8am and depending on how much the members would play, we may ball boy for four or five hours or on some days there wasn’t any ball boy activity. When I first began working at the club I was paid 2 1/2 cents and hour and when I stopped working it was 7 1/2 cents an hour.

SZ: Did you have the opportunity to attend school?

JH: One of the reasons I began working at the club was because we had a neighbor whose son was working there. The club gave us three hours of schooling a day and fed us which was a big thing in those days. But I didn’t go to high school or attend any organized school.

SZ: Your success is incredible.

JH: I am sure there are a lot of people out there that would do the same thing. You think about how much you want to do something and it’s motivational.

SZ: When I think of junior tournaments I think of learning by experience, playing lots of matches, seeing lots of different styles of play. Has the USTA considered the format for juniors 8-12 years old to move to round robin? Smaller tournaments that ensure players will have at least four or five matches per entry? A twelve game format with a tie-breaker?

JH: I am not informed on this because it’s not really what I do in my job position. But I think the main idea is to make tennis more attractive and fun for children by making it more of a team sport. There are so many kids that have so much pressure by their parents and coaches. They play tennis but don’t actually have fun and play implies fun.

SZ: Jose when you were competing as a child were you having fun? Did you feel the pressure of, “this is going to get me out of this situation.”

JH: That was my driving force. The teacher I told you about had some of the ball boys help him during the weekends with his tennis school. He was the best tennis teacher I’ve ever seen with children. He used to place a lot of ex-ball boys at clubs in Spain because his reputation was remarkable all over the country. Frequently clubs would call him and say, “Do you have any players to send us? We have an opening for a tennis teacher.” A lot of kids that were ball boys were placed in clubs as tennis teachers.

SZ: So it was a great opportunity.

JH: It was my only way really to get out of poverty.

SZ: Do you feel the format for junior tennis development in the U.S. is going in the good direction or would you like to see changes?

JH: If there is something that I would change I would expect the kids to have fun. I think having fun is a sign of a good teacher. I think if you have a program and you lose kids, more than likely you can’t look at the kids as being at fault. The kids should look forward to going to the program whether it’s entry level or advanced, the atmosphere has to be there and once again it’s supposed to be fun.

SZ: You were coaching Michael Chang when he won the French Open. The coached Jim Courier during the height of his success. How long had you worked with Chang prior to the Roland Garros Victory? How did you end up meeting Courier and deciding to work together?

JH: I started working with Chang in October of of 1988 and he won the French in 1989. I first met Michael when he was playing at the Orange Bowl. Then at the end of the year I took a part-time job with the USTA. When I took that job I began working with both Michael and Jim. Jim was already in the USTA program and I was still working with Michael then I received a call from Jim who asked me to coach him. Jim was a pretty good player when I began working with him. He was already ranked 30th in the world or some number close to that.

SZ: Do you feel you added you not only added strategic and technical information to their games but also bigger picture life perspective?

JH: I think life will teach you through experiences. What I try to do in my coaching and teaching is work hard, be resilient and patient. Set your goals but you’ve got to be patient.

SZ: Players become nervous before matches. It’s part of competing. When you were playing competitively what techniques if any did you utilize to overcome moments of nervousness in your important matches?

JH: As I became older I began to understand how the mind works. Basically for me it was about knowing that I was ready. That I had done all these things prior to going into tournaments to prepare myself. That was my main sense of security. I was also intrigued in those days about “the zone.” People used to talk a lot about, “He or she is in the zone.” I was intrigued until I came to the conclusion, my conclusion, not proven by any means, I am not an expert in that, but I came to the conclusion that my zone was an empty state of mind. Where the whole process was that I was so focused on what I was doing that there were no worries. That state once I understood how to get there more often brought me more success.

SZ: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi would call this this, “finding flow.” How do you help players get to that state. There is a lot of hoopla that goes along with success these days. Melanie Oudin, Coco Vandeweghe, Sloane Stephens all have had break through tournaments then slowed down their upward trajectory. They become “The New American Hope.” How do you help the young player think about putting that tournament aside and staying focused on their progress particularly when their success triggers a media frenzy.

JH: First of all I make sure that I don’t tell the players what they want to hear but what I think they need to hear in a very nice way. I put things in perspective. For example, when I work with a kid just by the way I go about our practices, I send signals to them in terms of where they are and the way to keep the player going. Normally the good players are really dedicated to playing. At the same time some of the players that think they are committed but the level of commitment isn’t really the level that is needed. In that situation you have a little more issue. But once again it’s about sending the signals and keeping the player very realistic. You are as good as you are. If you are one hundred and fifty in the world at this point you are one hundred and fifty in the world. It doesn’t matter how good people think you can be. Being realistic and at the same time giving the player the confidence that you actually believe that they can be great. Let them know they can be great but at the same time to be great you actually have to do a,b,c and you have to go through the process of achieving that.

SZ: Do you feel that there are more distractions for players when they have some level of success? Whether it’s television interviews, fulfilling endorsement obligations, commitments to corporate sponsorship etc. Do you help them keep those added engagement of their time in perspective?

JH: Obviously things are a little more complicated. Some players live with those things better than others. But once again this is what you do. You have to understand what success brings and what effect it can have on people. Especially children. There are two guys right now Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer that I don’t think we will see two players like this again for many years. They are two of the best champions I’ve ever seen. Not just because of their level of play but because the way they conduct themselves and how well they wear their status.

SZ: What advice do you give to the young players you work with today to settle their nerves prior to big tournament matches?

JH: Normally how you practice is how you will play. When you practice you experiment a little more with whatever it is you are working on. More pace or coming forward or whatever. Everything starts at the beginning which is practice so it becomes habit. Then it’s important to understand sometimes a player doesn’t lose but he/she gets beat. Your opponent plays better than you. I think number one a player should judge his/her results by how he/she played the match. Number two would be to be happy if you play badly but manage to win the match because that’s actually the sign of a good player.

SZ: Your official title with the USTA is Director of Coaching, which means you oversee all of the aspects of player development. I read an interview where you are quoted as saying, “We are lacking competitiveness in our players. They’ve got good backhands and forehands and serves but they lack understanding of how the game needs to be played. We have good coaches but the culture of our players needs to improve.” How has this situation been altered since you’ve come on board as Director of Coaching? Do you still see it as a weakness in American tennis?

JH: To be honest I think it’s still a weakness but it’s a lot smaller. The culture is changing. I think the dialogue in the USTA is changing. I didn’t change it. We all did. We’ve traveled around and have had a lot of interaction with a lot of coaches and players. Traveling around is a million times harder for me than coaching a player. Coaching a player is pretty easy compared to what I am currently doing.

SZ: Because you have a direct ongoing relationship with the player.

JH: Yeah I have 100% control of what I do and the effect that I have when I talk to a player. I think we are getting a lot better in that we have a good group of girls and a really good group of boys coming up. I think you can see slowly as you go like over at the Easter Bowl. The level in general is getting better. When the base gets bigger and gets better then I think we will see more and better players.

SZ: When I think of successful players from the past, I think of their intensity and inner drive to achieve. Besides being a talented athlete what qualities do you look for when thinking about whether a player has a chance to develop into a great player?

JH: Well a couple of things I look for that are important. First off is how badly does the player want to play/compete? I can only see that once I spend some time with the player. I will put them through some work that if they want to play they will go through it. The second aspect is I like to see them play. I like to see them play a set because I can see what kind of a tennis I.Q. they have and how resilient they are. Their character is the most important thing. It’s pretty amazing what an individual can do if he/she actually puts whatever it takes to get as far as he/she can. And that’s something that I think sometimes we over look.

SZ: Jose thank you for taking the time for this interview. I know how busy you are and are preparing to leave for the French Open. Best of luck to your players.

*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro
*This article can also be read @ examiner

Biofeedback for Mental Skills Training

“The key for me is to forget about results and concentrate on execution.” Orel Hershiser,

Los Angeles Dodgers.

How do athletes arrive at this place of letting go of the many distractions and pressures of performance? Many athletes are familiar with playing well in practice but not up to their potential during a game. In practice an athlete is focusing on the task. There isn’t the pressure of an outcome of winning or losing. Their mental focus complements their physical training. When an athlete leaves the practice arena and faces a team or challenging opponent or a game that matters, the athlete often becomes distracted with internal dialogue that sounds like:

*Don’t mess up this game.

*I’m ranked higher, I should win.

*I have to beat this opponent.

*Don’t let the team down.

*If I don’t play well the coach will bench me.

*There are scouts in the stands today. I have to perform well.

These types of distractions trigger a fight, flight, freeze primal response in the body. Athletes are typically unaware of the extent to which thoughts influence physiology and the impact it has on performance. Biofeedback is an easy training tool that provides real time data to athletes regarding how the body is responding to the mental dialogue and physiological response to the environment.

A simple Psychophysiological Stress Test helps the athlete recognize the link between thoughts and the perceived stress of competition and reaction time, the ability to think clearly under pressure, and emotional management. Once the athlete has an individualized blueprint of the stress cues that negatively influence their performance, an individualized biofeedback training program can be designed that will enable the athlete to more effectively address and manage these issues.

For additional information regarding biofeedback,arranging for a Psychological Stress Test or a free 30 minute phone consultation contact Susan Zaro, LMFT, BCB @

www.susanzaro.com

Taylor Fritz USA's rising tennis talent

Taylor Fritz is the son of two tennis pros. His father Guy Fritz was the University of San Diego’s first tennis All-American in 1972 and spent seven years on the pro tour. His mom, Kathy, was ranked as high as number ten on the WTA tour. Taylor has been making large strides towards his goals of becoming a touring ATP player in the years to come. Taylor’s ranking has climbed as high as #4 in ITF world rankings, and a career-high no. 912 ranking on the ATP pro tour. Last year Taylor reached the semi-finals of Junior Wimbledon. Recently he was seeded #3 during the Junior Australian Open.

Examiner: This year was your first Australian Open. You were seeded #3 in the junior tournament. What was it like playing in such a large venue for the first time? Were there a lot of distractions and peripheral issues to deal with such as the weather, scheduling courts etc? Or was it fairly easy to ease into the environment and just focus on your matches?

TF: It was fairly easy to get into the rhythm of the tournament because it was similar to a lot of the other junior slams. I thought the wind was going to be an issue because during the warm-up tournaments leading up to the Open the wind was pretty heavy. But it calmed down during the Open and it was great to play at such a big event.

Examiner: Were there a lot of distractions because it’s such a large venue and and there is so much going on? Or do you have a tournament routine and just knew to stick with your tournament routine?

TF: It was pretty routine because like I mentioned it’s the same type of environment as the other junior slams that I’ve been to. I have a whole routine down for that.

Examiner: Did you do anything different to prepare yourself for the Australian vs. other ITF tournaments you’ve played in? What are the things a player needs to prepare themselves for?

TF: Well I arrived in Australia early to make sure my sleeping schedule and all that was in sych with the time zone. The way I had to prepare in the days leading up to the Australian was different compared to how I usually prepare because I injured my shoulder and wasn’t able to serve or play for three or four days prior to the Australian Open. So my routine leading up to the tournament was spent trying to get my shoulder healthy rather than practicing or playing sets which I normally do.

Examiner: I looked at the doubles draw and noticed your name wasn’t there, was this because of your shoulder?

TF: Yeah, I pulled out of the doubles because I wanted to make sure my shoulder was going to be okay. I was advised that if I take some days off my shoulder should be able to hold up. But if I over played it would worsen.

Examiner: So part of your daily routine was to nurture your shoulder, going to the training room etc.

TF: I was just doing what I could to make sure I was ready to play.

Examiner: Both of your parents played tennis professionally and have taken an active part in your tennis development. What are the plus’s and what are potential drawbacks if any having parents who know the game and you so well?

TF: The plus’s are they always have my best interests in mind. They aren’t trying to do anything for the wrong reasons. They are always trying to help and they are always there. That’s what’s great about it. The minus’s are just sometimes it’s tough to have your parents coach you. I mean parenting and coaching, it’s two different things.

Examiner: At age seventeen your ITF ranking has climbed as high as #4 in the world. What has been some of the best tennis advice you’ve received so far regarding your career going forward?

TF: Going forward the best advice is probably to stay healthy and not injure myself. Not to over do it. When you are a highly ranked junior you have a good chance of transitioning into the pro’s and getting injured is just something that could completely ruin everything. Staying healthy is super important.

Examiner: Have you altered your practice routine going forward to protect your shoulder?

TF: I took some time off and saw some doctors to make sure I knew what I needed to do to take care of my shoulder. Now that I am playing and serving again I’m not going to change my regular practice schedule because it was never too much for my body to handle.

Examiner: All players need mentors/role models. Besides your parents who are your go to mentor/role models who help you see the path you wish to take a little clearer?

TF: Besides my parents I have coaches, Woody Blocher and Christian Groh. They both help me personally. For a role model obviously it’s Roger Federer because he’s just....I mean it’s pretty obvious.

*Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images

Examiner: A big issue during matches for tennis players is to have an active but focused mind. Winning and losing points can create big emotional ups and downs during match play. Novak Djokovic found meditation and made other adjustments in his life which seems to have helped him a lot. Andy Murray struggles with his emotional composure. Do you utilize any mental skills training to help you stay focused during matches?

TF: No not really. I just try and attend every practice with one hundred percent intensity and just focus and concentrate. As far as getting on the courts and having a mental game on the court during a match I don’t really think that is something that can be taught. I think you’ve got to just experience it. It’s kind of just experience and how you handle it.

Examiner: So through experience over time you develop a way to handle yourself on the court.

TF: I feel like most people are just born with the mental side where they don’t get too nervous. I feel it’s tough to teach that versus experience it.

Examiner: Do you have any favorite quotes or tips that keep you motivated during tough times? Tough times being when your shoulder is bugging you a bit or a tournament didn’t go quite as well as you wanted.

TF: I just move on with things. I don’t really have any problems with confidence or anything. I don’t get too down on myself. After a loss I kind of just say, “Alright well next time I’ll be better. It’s not a problem.”

Examiner: What is next on your schedule? Where will you be playing?

TF: This upcoming week I’m playing qualifying at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Examiner: Best of luck to you Taylor! Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk with me.

*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro
*This article can be read @ Examiner

*Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Coco Vandeweghe making an impact

Coco Vandeweghe has begun her 2015 WTA season by making an impact. She moved up to a career high of #32 in the world after she reached the third round of the recent Australian Open. In the last twelve months Vandeweghe moved up over eighty spots in the rankings. She made her WTA debut in the 2007 Acura Classic in San Diego. In 2014 she won her first WTA tournament at the Topshelf Open grass tournament in the Netherlands, beating Zheng Jie in the final. Since her strong showing at the Australian Vandeweghe has been selected to the USA Fed Cup which will be played on the outdoor red clay courts at the Pilara Tennis Club in Buenos Aires, Feb. 7-8. When I spoke with Vandeweghe she was on the way to the airport to catch a plane to Argentina where she will join her Fed Cup team-mates, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Taylor Townsendand seventh year Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

SZ: I read that you played competitive basketball until you were fifteen years old. What events shifted your attention to tennis full-time?

CV: I always played tennis, basketball and multiple sports. Basketball was a sport I always played. My mom didn’t really want me to continue to play basketball because she loves tennis. She fell in love with tennis after her sporting career in volleyball and swimming were over. She felt that tennis would be a better outlet for me in the sporting world which I came to agree with later. At first I thought my mom just didn’t want me to play basketball anymore which being a 14/15 year old kid drove me to play even more. But then there was a season where I ended up missing a couple of team practices for tennis and vice versa missing tennis practice for basketball. The girls began to take on the attitude I wasn’t committed to the team. So I wasn’t getting the ball passed to me. I was getting shunned out a bit. At that point I decided I didn’t need this and that I could play tennis which doesn’t require team-mates.

SZ: Is basketball part of your cross training? 

CV: I still play sometimes. I don’t participate in pick up games or anything to protect myself from being hurt. But my coach, Maciej Synowka likes to play so I get him to play every once in awhile.

Examiner: Now that you have been a touring professional full time for a few years how has your coach/player relationship changed from the juniors to the pro’s? Who sets your training goals and directs the course on what you need to improve on to become an impact player?

CV: The way I’ve been doing this in the past year and a half with Maciej is we set our goals before the season begins. I write out what I think I can accomplish and he writes out what he thinks I can accomplish and we develop a mix of both of our goals. That dictates the training regime of what we are going to do. Maciej is in charge of the training on the court. Off court I have another trainer who works with me.

SZ: Does the training include nutrition?

CV: Everything is included and everyone is on the same page being aware of all my goals. The trainer in the gym knows my tennis goals and Maciej even though he is my tennis coach knows the goals I want to accomplish in the gym.

SZ: If anything shifts during the season like your great results at the 2015 Australian Open and now this invitation to represent the USA in the Fed Cup do you re-set the goals?

CV: I reset them. My goals at the start of this year was to make the third round at a Grand Slam event. To this point I hadn’t gone that far in a Slam. Once I accomplished that it means we reset our goals. For example, let’s see if reaching the second week of a Slam is in the cards for this year, stuff like that. We definitely reset the goals after the accomplishments are reached.

SZ: The goals are flexible through-out the season.

CV: Definitely.

SZ: Does Maciej travel with you full time or just attend the big events?

CV: He travels with me full time.

SZ: What are the responsibilities of a traveling coach to help you prepare for matches and during the tournament?

CV: Basically to make my life as easy as possible. He books the practice courts and makes sure that I am still on the practice list, scouts opponents, books transportation to and from the tournament site and basically all the miscellaneous things that a player needs to do to be ready to play. He takes the weight off my shoulders.

SZ: What personality traits do you value the most in Maciej that helps you play up to your potential?

CV: Well he’s sitting in the back seat right now, (laughing). His philosophy is more of what I grew up with. My first coach was my mother. She was my volleyball coach even though I didn’t last long in volleyball. She was always coaching and she definitely had a stern coaching philosophy from her own sporting life. (Tauna Vandeweghe swam for team USA during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada).My mom’s philosophy was that if you’re not working then someone else is working harder than you. There is always more you can dig out of yourself. That was kind of the parameters I grew up with. Maciej being from Poland has that Eastern European mentality, kind of old school thinking. He doesn’t coddle my feelings. We are out there to achieve our goals. I also think a big factor, which you have to grow into over time in working or traveling with a coach is the trust factor. That the coach is putting everything that they have into your success, just as much as you are.

SZ: It’s a professional team investment and partnership. As a touring pro your schedule takes you all over the world which means different time zones, temperatures, playing surfaces etc. There are all sorts of apps available on the market to log sleep, hydration, work-outs etc. Do you use any of these devices to keep track of these off court statistics?

CV: I work with a company called APS. They provide me with electrolytes, protein powder and other vitamins that I may need depending on where I go. I am pretty consistent taking my vitamins in the morning and making sure I get enough sleep. I just go about doing what I would do at home and try to keep things as normal as possible.

SZ: You had a significant win during this years Australian Open against Sam Stosur. Coming into the Australian had you prepared any differently?

CV: Yeah it was a pretty difficult off court season that I had. We were really focusing on our goals and I had a huge ranking jump last year 2014. I started the year at #120 and finished the year in the top 40. That’s a significant leap in a year. I also won my first title and reached a lot of the goals and dreams that I had as a kid. Reaching my goals was a great accomplishment last year. But then it’s 2015 and a new year and we need to improve. So we sat down before the season started and set goals. We looked at what I thought hadn’t worked well in the 2014 season and what I thought I could improve on. We looked at the game tactics my opponents were using against me. We devised a plan and tried to execute it as well as we could.

SZ: Do you watch video of opponents to identify play patterns?

CV: I watch a lot of my own videos and notice how I played against opponents seeing both the good and bad match outcomes. It’s not always fun to watch the disappointing matches but I sit down and watch even during the off season. I watch my performance during good and bad matches and study the different types of players, the hard hitters to the counter punchers and everyone in between that we have video on.

SZ: In your interview at the Australian Open you mentioned that during your first round match against Francesca Schiavone you were quite nervous. Your coach said he doesn’t train you to be nervous out on the court. Do you have a system that you use to mentally prepare yourself?

CV: I think you’re always going to have some nerves, some level of adrenaline pumping, because of the excitement of competing. If I’m not feeling that then I feel like something isn’t right. Either I didn’t prepare or I’m just not ready to play in some form. The Australian is the first Grand Slam of the year and playing a complex player who was top ten in the world and a Grand Slam Champion (Francesca Schiavone won the 2010 French Open Singles), and a player I had never beaten it was kinda….I mean we worked on it for the next match when I played Stosur because she was another difficult opponent. That match was also played on an even bigger stage as we played on one of the tournament show courts and playing Stosur the hometown favorite. You just have to manage what you can. During my match against Francesca it was very simple I was not going to change any game tactics. I was keeping it as simple as hitting every ball crosscourt. It didn’t matter to me if she hit five hundred times to my backhand. I was going to hit five hundred more times back to her backhand. I wasn’t going to change anything because at this point in time I didn’t know where my feet were landing. I had no idea what was going on at the end of the match. I couldn’t tell you what the score was. I just knew I had won. It was an unbelievable kind of feeling out there that I had never quite felt of nerves. But it was the best I had managed them.

So before my match against Stosur my coach said, “We don’t train for you to put all those hours in the gym and potentially for you to make a huge mistake and blow your opportunity because you’re nervous. Play like you can’t miss a ball.” That’s how I was thinking when I was playing Stosur. I went on the court prepared to play like I can’t miss a ball. This is my court the surface I train on when I am home. I wasn’t going to miss a ball. Whatever she hits I can’t miss it. That’s all I was thinking about.

SZ: So you don’t do any mental training like breathing, slowing things down, or defining a focal point on the court to re-center yourself between points?

CV: I actually learned those skills from my grandfather (Ernie Vandeweghe, played for the New York Knicks), he always would tell me to play fast when you’re winning and slow it down when you are losing.

SZ: It allows you a longer presence on the court to figure out how to get back into the match. It sends the message “I’m staying to play and figure this out. You will need to beat me.” Every sport has a form of this. In football when a field goal kicker comes on the field and prepares to set-up to kick often an opposing team calls a time out. It’s called “Icing the kicker.” Game tactics.

CV: I learned about breathing during my time playing basketball shooting free throws because I never practiced enough to be confident in shooting free throws and making ninety percent of them. So I learned to develop a rhythm and routine. In tennis every time I set up for a return of serve I stick to my rhythm, routines. Those are things an opponent can’t touch or move. As a player it’s all under my control.

SZ: The following round you lost to Madison Brengle who is ranked below you in the WTA this year. After your win against Stosur what was the rest of your day like? Did you have time to process and and plan for the match against Brengle or were you still processing the match and the high of your win against Stosur? What was the atmosphere like for you?

CV: It was quite a bit different. My match with Stosur finished after midnight because we were the second evening match. I didn’t get to bed until probably 3:30am. What many people don’t realize is that after a match player’s are responsible to meet with the press and other obligations. Along with that is to fit in your match recovery which for me is an ice bath and other things I need to get done with the physio. It takes time. I spent two hours just taking care of my own recovery process, and also finding food. Normally I’m in bed by 9:30pm. I typically don’t stay up late. The next day I had t.v. interviews to do and different media responsibilities that I normally don’t have. The change in routine messes up your daily rhythm.

SZ: Do you think that those things influenced your readiness against Madison Brengle?

CV: Yeah, I mean you’re at such a high and everything like that, that if you’re not used to doing something everything is so new so it puts you a bit out of your comfort zone.

SZ: Your wins against Schiavone and Stosur were a nice validation of your skills and abilities. Your next event is participating as a Fed Cup player in the match against Argentina which is being played Feb. 7 & 8. What’s the plan to acclimate?

CV: I wasn’t planning on playing Fed. Cup because I was asked pretty last minute. I had been preparing for Dubai and Doha which are on hard courts. Right now the plan is to get to Argentina and get some practice reps on clay. I thought I had two and a half weeks to prepare for the next tournaments instead of four days. We’ll see what happens.

SZ: From Argentina are you going to Dubai?

CV: I have a tournament in Dubai, Feb. 16th, and in Doha Feb. 23rd. Then I return home to prepare for Indian Wells.

SZ: Coco I appreciate you taking the time for this interview. Best of luck at Fed. Cup and the rest of your season you’re off to a great start.

*Featured guests are not current nor former clients of Susan Zaro

*This article can also be read @ Examiner

*Thank you to Getty Images & Hannah Peters for photos